‘The Truffle Lady’
Gourmet importer both loves the outdoors and appreciates the finer things
Until she speaks in her French accent, you might mistake Diane Roederer for a die-hard native Texan.
She’s the outdoorsy type who enjoys ranch life, hunting, Lone Star sunsets and Houston’s skyline.
But she also likes truffles. Actually, she loves truffles so much she’s been dubbed “The Truffle Lady” in foodie circles across the city.
On Jan. 29, Roederer will host the annual Truffle Masters at The Astorian, benefiting Casa de Esperanza. The event will feature 22 of the city’s top chefs, included Lance Fegen of Liberty Kitchen, Ho Chee Boon of Yauatcha and Jesse Cavazos of Central Market. They’ll be serving up some creative dishes using truffles while vying for the “Truffle Master” title.
Two-time reigning champion chef Manabu “Hori” Horiuchi of Kata Robata will be there, too.
Now, if you didn’t know, truffles are fungi that grow underground and must be sniffed out by specially trained dogs. Roederer fell in love with the aroma and taste of the edibles.
At Roederer’s DR Delicacy showroom in northwest Houston, the shelves are filled with every kind of truffle product — including truffleinfused olive oil, clarified butter with truffles, truffle honey and truffle slicers. She also sells caviar, foie gras, a variety of mushrooms and other gourmet products. She and local chefs test all of the products first.
“A lot of people are afraid of truffles because they are so expensive and because they don’t know how to use or store them,” she said.
To that point, Roederer picks up a tray of black truffles, worth about $3,000. She says this variety lasts for about two weeks — white truffles can last 10 days.
In recent years, truffles have been a trendy favorite of celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, to whom Roederer sent a box last year.
Roederer came to Texas in 1991 when she and her late father visited a ranch in Del Rio owned by a French native, Laurent Delagrange, for a biggame-hunting adventure. She fell in love with Delagrange and eventually left her native Strasbourg, France, near the German border, to live on the ranch. The couple had two children, Maxime, now 19, and Victoria, 17. In 2012, Roederer moved to Houston after she and Delagrange divorced.
So how did she become the “Truffle Lady?”
It started with a truffle hunt in Barcelona in 2014. While there, the ranch owner asked if she wanted to import truffles to the United States.
In 2014, she opened her truffle-import business from her garage and sold her truffles to area French restaurants and anyone who would listen to her advocacy of the delicacy. In 2016, she moved into her current location and now sells her truffle products to Central Market and high-end restaurants across town.
Truffles are a lot like fashion, Roederer says: You don’t want to waste anything.
“Being French, we have a spartan sense of fashion. We don’t waste. We don’t over accessorize,” she said.
Roederer received her first Hermès scarf at age 18 and is rarely without one. She plans to give her daughter one when she turns 18.
“I love getting dressed up, I love evening dress and beautiful high-heeled shoes, but I also know how to dress down,” she says. “My mom always said never wear more than three colors. Even when I go hunting, I follow that rule.”